No state is an island when it comes to our food and its impact — good or bad — on our population’s health.

In my home state of Tennessee, an estimated 39 percent of adults suffer from hypertension, ranking us seventh in the nation, according to the annual State of Obesity report released last fall by Trust for America’s Health, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

That’s a top 10 ranking Tennesseans would just as soon do without.

And in my hometown of Nashville, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce also released last fall its Vital Signs report, finding: “Our region exhibits higher-than-national prevalence in chronic conditions including COPD, depression, diabetes, and hypertension.”